Month: October 2018

With several top players missing, the Providence Bruins split their two games over the weekend. They lost 4-2 (with an empty netter) in Springfield on Saturday. Then they finished on a positive note, spanking Bridgeport, 6-1, on Sunday. They’ve earned 5 out of 8 points in their last 4 games.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

*** With 3 goals and an assist against Bridgeport, rookie Cameron Hughes doubled his point total for the season. He completed his hat trick by scoring on a penalty shot. He now has 4-4-8 in 9 games.

*** Zach Senyshyn had a strong game on Sunday, scoring two goals.

*** Tanner Pond handed out punishing hits all over the ice against Bridgeport.

*** The P-Bruins have the AHL’s best penalty kill at 93.9 percent. They’ve killed 18 in a row and have given up only 2 power play goals through 9 games.

*** Dan Vladar made 28 saves on Sunday and recorded his first victory of the season.

*** Peter Cehlarik made a pretty pass to Jan Kovar for a power-play goal in Springfield.

BAD

*** The P-Bruins were without 3 of their top 6 forwards on Saturday and 4 of 6 on Sunday. Jordan Szwarz and Mark McNeill are injured. Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson was in Sweden tending to a personal matter. Cehlarik played on Saturday but sat out on Sunday with an upper body injury.

*** Kovar was on the ice for all 4 Springfield goals on Saturday. Peter Cehlarik and Cody Goloubef were on ice for 3 against.

*** They gave up the decisive goal in Springfield with under 5 minutes left in regulation time.

*** Providence has given up 3 shorthanded goals.

*** The P-Bruins have had 32 power play opportunities. That’s 28th in the league.

*** A big test awaits the P-Bruins in Charlotte this weekend. The 8-1 Checkers are second in the AHL with 16 points.

PROVIDENCE – They aren’t out of the woods by any means, but the Providence Bruins have put together a decent string of solid games.

After a tough loss in Springfield on Saturday night, the depleted P-Bruins bounced back with a resounding 6-1 win against Bridgeport at home on Sunday.

“We played really a pretty good weekend. We didn’t score (Saturday) night and we really weren’t at the net, so we made it a little easy on their goalie. (Sunday) we made sure to get there and stay there and we got rewarded for a couple that went off us or off them. That’s what happens when you go there,’’ said coach Jay Leach, whose team was without four top forwards in captain Jordan Szwarz, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, Mark McNeill and Peter Cehlarik.

“I was glad to see that and to see us play with some emotion and continue to do the things we’ve been talking about doing. When you’re 2-5-1 and you come in on a Sunday and you’re playing a team that’s good and you’re depleted a little bit, it can go one of two ways. I thought we went the right way and that was very encouraging to see.’’

Hughes delivers

Cameron Hughes was the star of Sunday’s game with three goals and an assist. He finished off the hat trick in style, beating Sound Tigers goalie Jeremy Smith on a penalty shot.

It was his first hat trick in … quite a while.

“I didn’t get any in college. I don’t think I got any in juniors. It was probably bantam – a long time,’’ said the former Wisconsin captain.

As for penalty shots, “I had one in college and I had one in juniors. I scored in college, I missed in juniors,’’ he said.

It was a satisfying win for a team that played well enough to get a point on Saturday, but didn’t.

“We’re doing a lot of the right things. Just the little things are hurting us. What Leachie’s preaching is that in these times when things haven’t been going your way, you have to take care of the details. We focused on that tonight and obviously it paid off,’’ said Hughes.

Hughes is now second in scoring for the P-Bruins with 4-4-8 in 9 games.

“I can’t think of a game we’ve had this year where he hasn’t been effective in some way – he kills, power play and obviously a hat trick tonight. I’m happy to see him get rewarded because he’s really been all over the scoring chance sheet of most of the games. He’s been very impressive,’’ said Leach.

Senyshyn speeds up

After a quiet stretch, Zach Senyshyn played one of his best games of the season on Sunday and was rewarded with two goals.

He blew past the defense to score a power play goal early in the game and went to the blue paint in the second period and had a puck bounce off him and into the net.

Using his speed and going to go to the net have been two points of emphasis for Senyshyn. When he does it, he’s a better player.

Pond hits hard

Tanner Pond made an impact on Sunday, on the game and on the boards, which he rattled with a half dozen solid body checks.

“For him it’s simple – it’s his skating game and his physicality. When he does that, he’s effective and noticeable. From the first shift on he was skating. When that happens sometimes pucks follow him and he takes care of things and it’s an easy game. He was outstanding,’’ said Leach.

Sherman keeps it simple

A month into his first pro season, Wiley Sherman is making progress as a shutdown defender.

“He had a tough first game of the season and really since then he’s built on being simple and effective – gapping up and doing the things we’re talking about. When he’s simple, inside his dots, he’s effective with that long stick. I’ve been encouraged for sure,’’ said Leach.

*** It doesn’t matter that Boston University is off to an 0-3 start under new head coach Albie O’Connell and has fallen out of the Top 20. Sixth-ranked Providence College expects a tough test, as usual, when the Hockey East rivals drop the puck at Agganis Arena on Friday night.

“We’ll get their A game, like we always do. That’s what makes our games with them great. We’ve had great games with them for the past four years,’’ said Friar coach Nate Leaman.

The Friars could be without freshman center Jay O’Brien, who was injured in last Friday’s win over UConn. He was listed as day-to-day by Leaman, but hadn’t skated as of Wednesday.

There were encouraging signs for PC last weekend, even if they let a win slip through their fingers by allowing a late goal to Sacred Heart and settling for a 2-2 tie on Saturday.

Josh Wilkins, who skated at center between Kasper Bjorkqvist and Jack Dugan in practice this week, potted his first two goals of the season. Bjorkqvist, at the top of the list in scoring chances for PC so far, scored his first when a puck bounced in off his pads against UConn. Dugan was impressive with a goal and two assists that night.

Freshman winger Tyce Thompson had three assists against UConn. “We’ve got to find a way to get that kid more ice,’’ Leaman said.

PC’s top four on defense — senior Vinny Desharnais and freshman Mike Callahan and juniors Jacob Bryson and Spenser Young – measure up with any quartet in the country.

*** Brown opens its season with home games against Yale at 7 p.m. on Friday and Vermont on Sunday at 5 p.m.

The Bears beat Princeton and tied Yale in scrimmages last Saturday.

Coach Brendan Whittet said this week that he is “constantly evaluating’’ his three goalies — junior Gavin Nieto, sophomore Luke Kania and freshman Gabe Vinal.

“Long story short? I don’t know who is playing on Friday,’’ Whittet said.

“Nieto played very well in the scrimmage against Princeton. Technically. he was very good. Made some good saves. Inhaled pucks. He looked confident.

“Vinal’s fine. He’s a freshman. We’ve got to keep working with him and help him grow. He’ll push the two guys.

“And then Kania has a lot of ability. He’s ultracompetitive. Technically, we’ve got to make sure he’s on top of it. We’ve got to make sure his competitiveness doesn’t lead to, on the mental side, where he’s taxing himself. Thnking about what happened on the prior play and not thinking about the next shot,’’ Whittet said.

Brown looks to have a smaller but quicker team this season.

“In years past we may have said that we wanted to play fast, but it was just wishful thinking. I think we can this year. We want to play aggressive, hard-nosed, uptempo, fast hockey,’’ Whittet said.

“I think we have the makings of a good hockey team. Where that team goes? I told the guys the other day – I’m here, I’ll help guide you, but it’s your team. What do you want it to be? How do you want to be remembered? Where do you want to go? I’ll help steer the ship, but it’s really in their hands. They’ve been great so far. We’ll know more after this weekend.’’

*** You may have seen pictures of Noel Acciari’s purple suit on Thursday night. I saw it in person and I’m here to tell you it was magnificent.

October is Hockey Fights Cancer month and Acciari had the suit made and wore it in honor of Drew Brown, his best friend and Providence College teammate, who died last November after battling Ewing’s sarcoma.

It’s a heartfelt tribute to a special member of the PC hockey family. “I think about him all the time,’’ Acciari said.

Brown “would be laughing at me right now’’ over the suit, Acciari said. “He’d be like, ‘What are you wearing?’ But, you know, that’s all right.’’

*** The home-and-home series between No. 16 UMass and No. 6 PC is still a couple of weeks away, but I’m already looking forward to it.

The Minutemen last weekend split a road series with Ohio State, the No. 1 team in the country at the time.

Under second-year coach Greg Carvel, UMass is primed to make some noise in Hockey East this season.

Stud defenseman Cale Makar has three goals and eight points in four games and has been Hockey East player of the week for two straight weeks.

Get out to see him while you can because he’ll be gone (to the Colorado Avalanche) after this season.

*** Two of the NHL’s brightest goalie prospects are struggling in the early going in their rookie seasons in the American Hockey League.

Lehigh Valley’s Carter Hart has a .865 save percentage in four games. Hershey’s Ilya Samsonov is at .859 through three games.

“In this league, stuff happens. It’s like the wild, wild west. Breakdowns occur and goalies see some crazy stuff. It’s not as simple as just being able to make the saves as they’ve been able to do in lesser leagues,’’ says P-Bruins coach Jay Leach.

Hart and Samsonov will get squared away, but their early struggles are a reminder that the AHL can do a number on young players.

*** After absorbing a 7-0 thrashing against St. Cloud at home on Thursday, Boston College is 0-4. Incredibly, the Eagles are 0-17-4 in its last 21 non-conference games.

The Providence Bruins split two games on the third weekend of the season. They came away with a point in Friday night’s 4-3 overtime loss in Bridgeport but the outcome left a sour taste as they had a win in their sights before giving up a last-minute goal to send the game to OT. In a rematch with the Sound Tigers on Saturday at home, the P-Bruins bounced back with a thorough and much-needed 5-2 victory.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

*** Colby Cave scored twice on Friday and once on Saturday. He has goals in four straight games and leads the team in scoring with 5-2-7 in 6 games.

*** Jeremy Lauzon had 2 assists on Saturday, including a pretty pass that sent Jan Kovar in for a goal. He has 1-3-4 in 6 games after putting up 7 points in 52 games last season.

*** Kovar scored his first goal for the P-Bruins in his first game on Saturday.

*** Cameron Hughes did nice work in helping set up Jakub Zboril’s goal on Friday, then scored his first goal as a pro to give Providence an early lead on Saturday.

*** Trent Frederic had a strong game on Saturday with a fight and two goals.

*** Give Zane McIntyre credit for a quality start with 25 saves in the win on Saturday.

*** Providence’s penalty kill is ranked second in the league at 91.7 percent. They’ve killed 22 of 24 penalties.

*** Jordan Szwarz was named captain on Friday.

BAD

*** The P-Bruins gave up a goal 42 seconds into the third period on Friday night, then allowed the Sound Tigers to tie it with 41 seconds left in regulation time on a goal Dan Vladar might like to have back.

*** The P-Bruins took too many penalties (6) on Friday, but the interference call against Lauzon early in the third period was very shaky.

UGLY

*** McIntyre and Vladar have a combined save percentage of .857.

*** Jordan Szwarz hit his head on the ice after being slew-footed on Friday. No penalty was called.

PROVIDENCE – The first game of Jan Kovar’s Bruins tryout went pretty well, all things considered.

The 28-year-old from the Czech Republic, signed to a PTO this week, looked a little rusty at times in Providence’s 5-2 win over Bridgeport on Saturday night, but was more noticeable as the game went on.

Centering Peter Cehlarik and Martin Bakos, Kovar scored a goal 41 seconds into the third period. He took a pretty pass from Jeremy Lauzon and broke in on the Sound Tigers net. Goalie Jeremy Smith turned aside the initial shot, but Kovar backhanded the rebound into the net, giving the P-Bruins a 4-1 lead.

Coach Jay Leach smiled when asked for his impressions of Kovar’s performance.

“He’s an interesting guy. I don’t know if you would call him the fleetest of foot. By the same token, he gets himself right in there. He’s not afraid of confrontation. He’s clearly a heady player, makes some plays. It was nice to see him score a goal,’’ Leach said.

“For a first game, having not really skated in the last couple of weeks, I thought it was a pretty good showing. It will be nice to get him in practice this week for a full week. He can get acclimated to the power play and his line.’’

Cave takes scoring lead

In his fourth season in Providence, Colby Cave is off to a fine start, leading the team in points with seven in six games. After scoring twice on Friday night, Cave netted his fifth goal on Saturday, tipping in a Lauzon shot to give the P-Bruins a 2-0 lead early in the first period.

“He’s really skating, I think, and it does appear he’s got a lot more confidence with the puck. He finds himself in scoring areas more than in the past and he’s been able to bury it. He looks more confident and he’s kind of leading the charge for us. He’s been good,’’ said Leach.

Timely victory

Even though Providence was missing captain Jordan Szwarz, Chris Breen and Emil Johansson due to injuries and illness and Urho Vaakanainen was recalled by Boston, they jumped on Bridgeport early and kept their foot on the gas.

“We needed that. It was a fast start, which was nice, with a couple of goals,’’ Leach said. “For the most part, our team played as a team and did the things we wanted to do and rebounded after a tough loss (on Friday) night.’’

Zane McIntyre stopped 25 shots for Providence.

“He was solid. When we needed a save, he made it, which is all we can ask for. It was nice to give him some support,’’ said Leach.

Strong game for Frederic

Trent Frederic was involved all night on Saturday, fighting pesky Connor Jones of the Sound Tigers just a few shifts into the game and scoring twice.

“He was obviously physical early. We talked a lot to Freddy after (Friday) night’s game. We really wanted him to become physical and also stop and start and get engaged. He was, in fact, doing that early and it was nice to see him score some goals,’’ Leach said.

Nights off

Jeremy Lauzon was a scratch for last Sunday’s game in Springfield. Leach called it a “mental break.’’

Similarly, Jacob Zboril sat out a game a couple of weekends ago, and Cehlarik was a scratch on Friday.

“We’ve been doing that with some of these guys. We’re trying, A., to take advantage of when we have numbers and, B., if we think a guy needs to work on certain things in his game, that’s what we’re going to do,’’ Leach said on Saturday morning.

“We wanted to take advantage of having healthy bodies. It’s really more of an organizational approach, with the amount of three-in-threes that we have. Last year, I think we got away from it a little bit. It’s a fine line.’’

McNeill injured

Already missing Szwarz, Breen, Johansson and David Broll, the P-Bruins lost Mark McNeill to what looked to be a leg injury in the first period. Leach said McNeill “is probably week to week.”

— The last time the Providence Bruins went 1-4 to start a season was in 2010-11. At the end of that season, coach Rob Murray was let go after his team, which went through 51 players, missed the playoffs.

To this point in the young AHL season, only the 0-5 Hershey Bears have a worse record, but the P-Bruins have plenty of talent and time to straighten things out.

Providence again has a young team. Four rookies and six second-year players were in their lineup on Sunday.

There is reason to believe that the mistakes that have plagued them early on will start to fade away. And it’s only a matter of time before proven AHL point producers such as Peter Cehlarik and Jordan Szwarz get untracked.

Veteran defenseman Cody Goloubef, who missed the first two games while recovering from an injury, hasn’t hit his stride yet. And Martin Bakos, a big, skilled winger from Slovakia who was injured in Boston’s training camp, could be ready to go this weekend. Expect him to add some offensive punch.

It says here the P-Bruins will figure it out.

— This should be a fun college hockey weekend in Providence.

Fifth-ranked Providence College plays its first Hockey East game of the season against Connecticut on Friday night at Schneider Arena.

On Saturday, Brown will host scrimmages with two Ivy League rivals at Meehan Auditorium.

— Parker Ford of Wakefield, R.I., is off to a good start in his second season with Sioux City of the USHL. The 2000-born forward, a Providence College commit, has four goals in his first four games. Ford is an assistant captain with the Musketeers. Friar commit Luke Johnson is the captain.

— Congrats to Rhode Islanders Dennis Cesana (Providence and Michigan State) and Mike Lombardi (Barrington and Quinnipiac), who played their first NCAA games over the weekend. Cesana was credited with an assist on Saturday against Northern Michigan.

— With its top line firing on all cylinders, the Boston Bruins have a chance to make some hay on the road over the next week with games at Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Ottawa. It was good to see Anders Bjork get on the board, albeit in garbage time against the awful Red Wings.

— Kudos to Scott Borek, who earned his first win as Merrimack’s head coach on Friday, a 1-0 victory over Bentley.

The 17 years between head coaching wins for Borek is a record, according to the College Hockey News.

The Warriors were picked for last place in the Hockey East coaches poll. No big deal, says Borek.

At Hockey East media day a couple of weeks ago, he said his message to his team about the poll would be as follows: “Polls are just other people’s expectations. Don’t wear them. If you wear them, that’s your fault.’’

Borek said he is better equipped to be successful than he was when he took his last head coaching job at Lake Superior.

“When I first got to Lake Superior, I thought it was, unfortunately, all about me. ‘Hey, this is what I’ve got to do.’ It’s not all about you.’ It’s about the other people in the coaches’ room and in the locker room. It’s about everybody else,’’ he said.

“My most recent job with Nate (Leaman at Providence College), the turnover they had and the success that they continue to have as he hires the right people, I need to do the same thing.’’

— David Berard’s many friends around college hockey were happy to hear last week that his contract as head coach at Holy Cross has been extended through 2022. The Crusaders are always competitive and Berard is one of college hockey’s best ambassadors.

The Providence Bruins opened their first three-in-three weekend of the season with a rousing come-from-behind 4-3 OT victory in Hartford on Friday night. After losing both their games the previous weekend, it looked like they’d figured some things out.

But the P-Bruins failed to build on the win. They mounted another big rally before dropping a 4-3 decision to Hartford at home on Saturday and lost 6-3 at Springfield on Sunday.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

*** The P-Bruins trailed by two with under 10 minutes left in Hartford on Friday before Anton Blidh and Trent Frederic scored 1:32 apart to tie the game, setting the stage for overtime.

*** Cody Goloubef started his Providence career with a bang, scoring the winner 63 seconds into OT in his first game.

*** Blidh has been one of the P-Bruins best players in the early going. Always a relentless forechecker and agitator, he scored in two straight games, including a Gordie Howe hat trick on Saturday.

*** Zach Senyshyn scored a goal on Saturday and another on Sunday.

*** Jacob Forsbacka Karlsson, Frederic and Ryan Fitzgerald recorded their first goals of the season over the weekend.

*** Chris Breen played a strong game on defense in Hartford, as did Urho Vaakanainen, who led all players with six shots on goal.

*** Colby Cave played a good two-way game all weekend and had a goal and an assist on Saturday.

*** Mark McNeill quietly leads the team in scoring with 2-3-5 in 5 games.

BAD

*** Jordan Szwarz and Peter Cehlarik are both looking for their first goals of the season.

*** Jakub Zboril got caught up ice on Hartford’s shorthanded goal on Saturday. The pairing of Zboril and Jeremy Lauzon were flat-footed and backing in on Hartford’s fourth goal, by John Gilmour, on Saturday.

*** No question Zane McIntyre’s numbers weren’t pretty on Sunday – 14 saves on 20 shots – but none of the goals was soft. He made a bunch of timely stops in Friday night’s win.

*** Yeah, I know plus-minus is no longer considered a meaningful stat, but some P-Bruins are piling up some not-so-good numbers: Zboril -7; Szwarz and Fitzgerald -5; Cehlarik -4.

UGLY

*** On Sunday, Providence gave up three goals in a span of 2:04 early in the second period. Frederic did a poor job managing the puck on the first goal. Vaakanainen got caught too deep in the offensive zone on the second goal. JFK failed to handle Zboril’s pass in the defensive zone, leading to the third goal.

*** Providence finished the weekend with a 1-4 record. They are seventh in the eight-team Atlantic Division.

PROVIDENCE — Still looking for their first win of the season, the Providence Bruins open the season’s first three-in-three weekend with a game in Hartford tonight.

Zane McIntyre will start in goal, looking to rebound from last Friday’s opener against the Wolf Pack when he was pulled after allowing three goals in the first 12:39.

“We need two goalies. No one works harder than Zane McIntyre. He has performed for us for a long time and he deserves the opportunity to go in and have a good game,” said coach Jay Leach. “I could never fault his effort. He would probably say he’d like to have some (of last Friday’s goals) back, but that’s why it’s the hardest position.”

Leach anticipates having veteran defenseman Cody Goloubef in the lineup for the first time. He missed the end of training camp with an upper body injury. He’ll be paired with rookie Urho Vaakanainen.

“He’s a guy that’s been around. Can make plays. Hopefully, he’s able to help Vaak get situated with North American pro hockey. He’s played (in both AHL & NHL). We’re hoping he can provide Vaak with good support & get him acclimated to this league,” said Leach.

These were lines in Thursday’s practice and I expect they will be the same tonight:

Fitzgerald-Swzarz-Cehlarik

Hughes-JFK-McNeill

Kuhlman-Frederic-Senyshsyn

Blidh-Cave-Fyten

Besides Vaakanainen and Goloubef, look for the other defensemen tonight to be Lauzon, Zboril, Breen and Clifton.

Sherman, Koppanen, Pond, Gabrielle and Johansson stayed on the ice after today’s morning skate, so expect them to be scratches. David Broll remains out with a hand injury.

Gabrielle is cleared to play after recovering from an upper body injury in the preseason. He could in the lineup on Saturday or Sunday, according to Leach.

Providence is home for a rematch with Hartford on Saturday night, then visits Springfield on Sunday afternoon.

Some sparks flew, too. At one point, Anton Blidh knocked off Trent Frederic’s helmet, angering Frederic before cooler heads prevailed. At the end of practice, on the P-Bruins logo at center ice, Blidh and Frederic talked as they led the stretch.

After playing catch up all night in Friday’s loss in Hartford, the P-Bruins led for most of Saturday’s game against Laval before losing on a last-minute goal.

“Laval was very good. They were physical. They were a little older than us. They worked. It was a tough game for us. We had moments where we were good and we had some sustained pressure and then we had moments where we were just holding on for dear life,’’ Leach said.

“They ultimately deserved to win the game. We were up, 2-0, but they outchanced us handily.’’

Before the opener, Leach stressed that a coach never knows what he has until the real games start.

“The only proper way to evaluate where your team is is to just dive in. We had some success last year. We had some success in the preseason. But it doesn’t make a difference when you start playing the real games,’’ Leach said.

“We’ve got work to do. We’ve got younger players playing in different roles, expanded roles. They’ve got to learn how to do that. Tommy Cross isn’t logging 28 minutes (on defense) any more. Guys have got to eat some of those minutes, those younger players. Our guys are competitive and they work. They want to get better.’’

Providence visits Hartford on Friday; has a rematch with the Wolf Pack at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on Saturday night; then plays in Springfield on Sunday afternoon.

BOSTON — All’s well that ends well. The Boston Bruins weren’t at their best in Monday’s home opener, but they did what they needed to bank a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators.

Four quick hits:

GO FOURTH

The first line provided the firepower as Patrice Bergeron scored a hat trick and David Pastrnak scored twice, but the fourth line played a part in the win.

After being a healthy scratch in Buffalo, Chris Wagner played with Noel Acciari on the wings between Sean Kuraly. Acciari landed a crunching hit along the boards less than a minute in. He and Wagner recorded three hits each.

“They looked very good,’’ coach Bruce Cassidy said. “See, that’s the thing. When Noel goes to the wing I find he’s freed up to be more physical, be on top of pucks. When you’re a centerman, you have to be a little more responsible, so that’s the difference. I like him as a centerman. He knows what he’s doing in his own end, makes good reads, good stick, willing to block shots, but when he’s on the wing, he’s freed up a little more.’’

WAGNER ON THE BOARD

As he often does, Edmonton scout Scott Harlow watched the game from the ninth floor.

“That was a Wags goal right there,’’ Harlow said after the second period, in which Wagner scored Boston’s third goal. Harlow would know since he coached Wagner with the Eastern Junior Hockey League’s South Shore Kings.

Wagner, a meat-and-potatoes player, fought for ice in the slot, stood his ground and got a stick on Charlie McAvoy’s shot from the point as he was knocked down.

“I thought we had one coming after our first period when we had a lot of O-zone time. Sometimes you get the bounces and sometimes you don’t, but that was a pretty good bounce,’’ Wagner said.

It was his first goal as a Bruin in his first home game. What a great moment for the Walpole native and his family.

NOT ENOUGH MEN

Too Many Men was, of course, an infamous moment in the history of the Boston Bruins.

Not Enough Men? That was an odd twist in Monday’s game. I can’t recall another one like it in many years of watching the Bruins.

The Senators scored their second goal after a faceoff in the Boston end where the Bruins had only two forwards and two defensemen on the ice. David Pastrnak was the missing forward, jumping over the boards in time to see Ryan Dzingel score his second goal.

Cassidy said he’d called for the Bergeron line to be on the ice and then went to talk to Anders Bjork about his last shift.

“It’s always on the coach to get the right people out there, but by the same token (Bergeron’s) line was out there and I just assumed (Pastrnak) was on the ice lined up against the boards. So, we’ll share responsibility on that one, and we’re just fortunate it didn’t come back to bite us in the ass,’’ said Cassidy.

For Pastnrak’s part, he accepted the blame. “I heard Kuraly line. Definitely my bad. I misheard and, to be honest, I had no idea. All of a sudden I jumped on the ice and they scored. But maybe I lost a little focus and didn’t hear our line so it was my bad.’’

RASK REBOUNDS

Coming off a rocky night in the season opener, Tuukka Rask wasn’t perfect on Monday, but he didn’t have to be.

“Well, I finished the game. I guess that qualifies as a lot better. We played good,’’ said Rask, who stopped 28 shots.

“He made some big saves. He came out to absorb some traffic around the net, was more engaged in the game, willing to play the puck, so I thought he was good. A good bounce-back game for him,’’ said Cassidy.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“That (Bergeron) hat trick is great, but that backhand saucer pass that lands on Pasta’s stick on the backdoor, I don’t’ get it. We might have to have a talk tonight and he can explain it to me. Maybe I’ll implement it next game’’ – DAVID BACKES